Blogger's Block

Well it's been a long time....... I've been suffereing from blogger's block! I guess some of you will find this hard to believe but it is true. Mark has done such a good job of keeping you up to date with what has been going, on it hasn't seemed like there has been much left for me to say. This afternoon coming back on the tram I got thinking and here is the result of my musing.

Since I wrote last we have visited some amazing places. The parts that stick out the most are the different ways for remembering those who died in the holocaust, especially the Jews. In Berlin we walked through the memorial which is made up of nearly 3000 huge stones in straight lines. The stones vary in height. As you walk through them there are places where you can see your surroundings and there are places where you can see nothing but the stones on either side and the path before and behind you. The stones are all dark grey and the effect is very interesting. There was also a very thought provoking exhibition below the square.

Next we went to Auschwitz Birkenau. Probably the one most memorable place of all on our travels. We were there on a wet afternoon which somehow seemed right. We decided to take part in an English tour, where our guide was a young lady from the Czech Republic. She took us to some of the many bulildings that are open on the ex-military camp. Some of the buildilngs are full of huge piles of the possessions of those who perished at Birkenau. Quite overwhelming. In one of the buildings there is one single gravestone to honour all those who died and whose bodies lie in unmarked graves. We then took the bus to Birkenau where the size is what really strikes you. It took us 15 minutes to walk through the camp to get to where the remains of the gas chambers are. There is now a memorial with an inscription written in 20 different languages - FOR EVER LET THIS PLACE BE A CRY OF DESPAIR AND A WARNING TO HUMANITY, WHERE THE NAZIS MURDERED ABOUT ONE AND A HALF MILLION MEN, WOMEN AND CHILDREN, MAINLY JEWS FROM VARIOUS COUNTRIES OF EUROPE. AUSCHWITZ-BIRKENAU 1940-1945.I would say that the whole camp is now being used as a memorial to what happened there.
The most beautiful monument from our trip so far was tucked away behind the synagogue in Budapest. It is called the Tree of life and it is made of granite and steel in the shape of a weeping willow. Many of the leaves are inscribed with the names of individuals and families who died or disappeared in the war. On a sunny day, it was a really beautiful and fitting way to help others, like me, to remember. So a very thoughtful trip so far with many interesting places visited and enjoyed and some great people met along the way!